Chapter 6

INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE FOR CLASSROOM USE

A closer look on instructional surface focus of this chapter which gives you the knowledge on selection, benefits, limitation and problems of the recognized software. Also, the purposes on benefits of other software support tools which are helpful in producing specific outputs such as creation of brochures, certificates, tests, presentations, web pages, and the like are describe in this chapter. Intended Learning Outcome At the end of this chapter, you are expected to:  Create an instructional software that can be used in teaching and learning.

A CLOSER LOOK AT INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE

An overview of the different instructional software was earlier discussed in the previous chapter. In this chapter, selecting suitable instruction software, its benefits and limitation will be further discussed. Drill-and-Practice Software Selecting Control over the Drill-and-Practice - Answering the given questions or problems are given time limit, however , a good drill- and-practice software still gives users enough time to think and answer before proceeding to the next question. Users may be given signal to the software if he/she is ready to go to the question by pressing/tapping a ke or clicking on a mouse button. Answer Judging – A good drill-and-practice program must be to discriminate correct answer from incorrect ones, especially if the user is required to enter a short answer rather than simply choosing from a selection Gives Appropriate Feedback – Two error must be avoided when programs give feedback. First, program display sample, readable and understandable feedbacks, not t overly design the feedback. Second, programs carelessly give more interesting feedback when the user answers incorrectly. This, therefore, encourages users to give false answers to see the interesting response from the program. Benefits Immediate Feedback – Paper and pencil drill-and-practice gives delayed feedback, thus, student would not know immediately how much they performed in their drill-and-practice. Having drill-and-practice software, students would know instantly their result and would b able to do immediate corrections if they gave incorrect answers. Motivation – Students are not simply motivate doing paper and pencil drill-and-practice for reasons that they do not like writing or they have poor writing skills. In drill-and-practice software, students get motivated not only because they will not write, but also because of the idea of being in front of the computer that hey love to operate and manipulate. Saving Teacher Time – Teachers can attend to other student needs while their students spend time doing the drill-and- practice. Some areas that benefitted the drill-and-practice are: Math, typing skills, English and foreign language vocabulary, countries and its capitals. Limitations and Problems Perceived Misuse – Some teachers make use the drill-and-practice as part of lesson introduction and nt really for practicing the student`s skills. Criticism by Constructiveness – People consider this drill-and-practice as an outmoded approach to teaching for this contradicts the aim of the restructured curriculum. See the following sites for sample drill- and- practice software: Vocabulary Practice by Brainpop –http://www.brainpopsl.com Chemistry formulas by Chemistry Drills.com – http://www.chemistry-drill.com Name the Note by Music Dills.com – http://www.musicdrills.com?

Tutorial Software Selecting Extensive Interactivity – Regular and thorough responses to questions must be regularly given along the tutorial to questions must be regularly given along the tutorial to continuously guide students learning. Thorough User Control – Navigation buttons must always be present to aloe students to go around the program and give them the program and give them the freedom to return or move forward or even end the program at their own pace. Appropriate Pedagogy – The instruction must provide complete and sufficient explanation, examples, and demonstration when necessary to enable the students to understand the lesson well. The lessons, examples, and exercises must be arranged logically and sequentially. Adequate Answer-Judging and Feedback Capabilities – When students are asked to answer in short responses, all possible answers must be included in the program. Appropriate feedback must likewise be present wherein answers will be provided by the program after 2-3 tries rather than frustrating the students of requiring them to supply the answer which they do not know. Adequate Graphics – Graphics should always support the topic being discussed. These should always be in line and appropriate for the instruction. Adequate Record Keeping – Summary of progress report of students must be present and can be easily accessed by the teacher to enable them to keep the track of the student’s performance. BENEFITS The benefits enumerated in the drill – and – practice software are also the same benefits of the tutorial software. Tutorial are self-contained and self-paced instruction which allows students to learn at their own time.

LIMITATIONS and PROBLEMS

 Criticism by Constructivism – Tutorial contradicts the objective of constructivism learning since tutorial software delivers directed instruction rather than allowing students to construct and generate their own knowledge through hands-on projects. Lack of good Products – this is being encountered due to the difficulty and expense of designing and developing tutorial software. Difficulty in programming and including of suitable graphics to give appropriate pedagogy in teaching and demonstrating the concepts well are the dilemmas in producing well-packaged tutorial software. Reflect Only One Instructional Approach –What should be taught for a given topic, how to teach the topic or lesson effectively, in what sequence the learning tasks will be presented are always the questions in producing an effective tutorial software. See the following sites for sample tutorial software: Trigonometry Challenge by ETCAI – http://www.etcai.com/page10.html Laws of Motion by The physics Classroom – http://www.phyicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws He Constitution by Congress for Kids – http://congressforkids.net/Constitution _writing constitution.htm

SIMULATION SOFTWARE Selecting There is a realistic and accurate representation of a system. Clear set of directions must be present in the software; models a real or imaginary system. Can model physical phenomena, procedures, and hypothetical situations. The impact of actions must be clearly seen. Benefits Compress Time – Students do not have to wait for the living to grow and develop its cycle in real time for this can be presented in the stimulation software in just a couple of minutes. Slow Down Process – Events or processes that happen that is invisible to the human eye can actually be played in slow motion to enable he students to see how such event or process happens in reality. Get students Involved – The participation of the students is necessary for them to be able to learn what may happen in a particular situation. Make Experimentation Safe – Simulation software is best in keeping the students safe I learning things like driving vehicles, handling volatile substances, search and rescue situation etc. Make the Impossible Possible – Waking on the moon, traveling to the universe, witnessing the volcanoes erupt, are just a few examples of allowing the students to experience the impossible and learn the possible. Save Money and other Resources – Though learning by doing is the best learning experience, simulation software may still give rightful learning experience at a fraction of the cost, like dissecting animals, hardware unit, and the like. Allow Repetition with Variations – Simulations allow students to repeat events many times as they master the lesson they wish to learn. Allow Observation of Complex Processes – Simulation software makes learning and understanding of complex lessons and processes easier for students to see what is happening.

LIMITATIONS and PROBLEMS

 Criticism of Virtual Lab Software – Students may not get actual and quality learning if real experiments will be taken in substitute virtual labs than doing it in the hands-on-labs. Simulations can just be used as supplements to regular labs. Accuracy of Models – Simulation software may give inaccurate or imprecise perspectives of the subject matter. Real experience is still better than being replaced by substituted learning experience. Misuse of Simulations – There is a possibility that students would unlikely to develop effective problem-solving skills due to plainly mastering the activities given simulation. See the ff. sites for sample simulation software: BioLab Fly by BioLab – http://www.biolabsoftware.com/bls/fly.html Stock Market Simulation by National SMS –http://www.nationalsms.com Digital Frog by Digital Frog International – http://www.digitalfrog.com

INSTRUCTIONAL GAMES SELECTING Appealing Formats and Activities – Adventure and levels of complexity that match learners’ abilities fun learning. Instructional Value – Instructional game should serve as educational and motivational tools which give importance to the value of learning. Physical Dexterity is Reasonable – The purpose of motivating the students should be evident in the instructional game and not the other way around. However, if the object of the game is to learn physical dexterity (e.g. for students with physical challenges), the focus of the game should be learning context-area skills, rather than physical dexterity. The level of physical dexterity for content-area games should be untroublesome to all students. Social, Societal, and Cultural Considerations – Instructional games should highlight positive messages rather than war and violence among peoples of different nations, beliefs, and cultures. Benefits Games are more interesting than traditional instruction (Randal et al., 1992) Retention of information is longer Assists teachers to get students to focus on the topic Makes learning more engaging and motivational (Ash, 2011; Corbett, 2010;Squire, 2005) Limitations and Problems Learning versus Having Fun- Some schools disagree in incorporating games in instruction for they believe that games draw away the attention of the students from the real purpose and that is learning the lesson. The focus of the students is toward winning the game of instruction/learning. Confusion of Game Rules and Real-Life Rules-Rules in games differ from rules in real-life. Game rules may give students difficulty in transferring the skills learned through games to real-life situations. Inefficient Learning- Balance between motivation and learning must be maintained the classroom so not to lose the value of education when using instructional games. Classroom Barriers- Instructional games sometimes cannot be implement in the classroom due to some difficulties encountered, such as requirements of the game software do not match with the specifications of computers in schools, some teachers have negative views toward computer games, time needed to complete the game is longer than the normal class hours, and others. See the following sites for sample instructional game software: Spore by Electronic Arts, Inc. – http://www.spore.com Lure of the Labyrinth by Thinkport – http://www.labyrinth.thinkport.com Jeopardy Review Generator by Super Teacher Tools – http://www.superteachertools.com/jeopardy Problem-Solving Software Selecting Teachers should see to it that the software should be able to develop the skills of the students in solving various kin=ds of content-area problems. The software should also have the feature that would keep the interest of the students in moving on in solving problems. The problems should be challenging to bring out the level best in the students. Benefits Promotes visualization in mathematics problem solving. Fosters better understanding in visualization of abstract concepts. Improve interest and motivation I doing problem-solving activities. This will allow students to become more active and impulsive problem solvers. Limitations and Problems Effectiveness of Problem-Solving Software – The problem-skills that students supposed to be developing through the use of the software may not actually be helping them to learn these skills though software catalog claims that it can foster problem skills. The student may be enjoying in solving problems using the software but they are not actually learning or developing the skills needed. Teachers have use the problem-solving software first to confirm its effectiveness that it truly achieves the end-results of developing skills in problem-solving. Suitability in Learning Strategy of the Students – The instructional strategy of the problem-solving software may not suit the learning strategy of the students, thus will limit their learning and developing of problem-solving. The kind of instructional strategy of the software may bring negative effects in directed instruction . See the following sites for sample problem-solving software: Memory challenge by the Critical Thinking Co. - http://www.criticalthinkin.com Sequences by the Tool Factory, Inc, - http://www.toolfactory.com Crazy machines by Viva Media LLC –http://www.vivamedia.com Software Support tools It is undeniably true, as mentioned in the previous chapter, that the productivity software like word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, and the like, are helpful for both teachers and students in accomplishing their respective tasks in supporting and meeting the requirements of teaching and learning.

This time, you will learn other software support tools that likewise benefit teachers in teaching and students in learning in various classroom situations. These software support tools offer the following advantages:

 Improved efficiency and productivity

 Enhanced more product appearance More precise and aptness of information More support for collaboration

Example Software Tool Purposes and Benefits

Database Software For storing of information that can be accessed and FileMaker http://www.filemaker.com located easily by typing only the key words. Quickbase http://quickbase.intuit.com Microsoft Access http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ access Electronic Gradebooks For keeping track of student’s record and PinnacleGradeGradebook http://www.globalscholar.com computation of student’s grades. Teacher Planet listing of many gradebook packages http://www.gradebooks4teachers.com Statistical Packages For data calculations which produces descriptive and SPSS http://www/spss.com inferential analysis that are needed in researches. SAS http://www.sas.com Can be used by teachers in teaching statistical Analyse-it http://www.analyse-it.com procedure. XLStat http://www.xlstat.com NCSS http://www.ncss.com Stata http://www.stata.com Online Survey Tools For designing and implementation of surveys and SurveyMonkey http://www.surveymonkey.com questionnaires which can be used by both teachers Zoomerang http://www.zoomerang.com and students.

Example Software Tool Purposes and Benefits

Student Information System For keeping track of student, class, and PowerSchool http://www.pearsonschoolsystems.com school data Pinnacle SIS http://www.globalscholar.com would eventually help in making Tyler SIS http://www.tylertech.com/solutions-products/school- decisions. Basically, solutions the system can: Quickschools http://www.quickschools.com  track and report student’s attendance  keep records on student demographic data  create class scheduling  track and report on test scores and achievement by objective  inform parents of their child’s grades and attendance via online Computerized-Based Testing Systems This is also known as computer-assisted testing. Exambuilder http://www.exambuilder.com This system allows students to take tests via Easy Test http://www.easyteach.com/easytest.html online ComputerTest 2.0 http://www.cubeapps.com on- screen computer which provide results afterwards. Students Response System or Clickers This is also called as personal response Students Response Solutions http://www.turningtechnologies.com system or classroom response systems. Smart Response http://smarttech.com This allow teachers to display a question Activate,ActiveExpression,ActiveEngage http://www.prometheanworld.com which can be simultaneously answered by iRespond http://www.irespond.com the students, and results can be seen by the teacher immediately. This system enhances students’ engagement in class instruction. Roblyer, M. &Doering, A (2013) Graphics Tools Allow teachers and students to enhances the illustration to be placed in documents (flyers, brochures, newsletter, and the like) and web pages.

Research and Reference Tools

Assist teachers and students in doing their research work. Example Software Tools Purposes and Benefits Online Encyclopaedia Helps both teachers and students in Encyclopedia Brittanica http://www.britannica.com finding the facts and information in Encyclopedia.com http://www.encyclopedia.com accomplishing their assignments, projects, and researches. Online Atlases and mapping Tools Helps users to know more about local, Wordatlas http://www.wordatlas.com/atlas/world.htm national, world, and celestial geography Rand McNally.com http://www.mapquest.com which are needed in their learning. The National Map http://nationalmap.gov Atlas of the Universe http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com Google Maps http://maps.google.com

Online Dictionaries and Thesauruses Helps teachers and students to widen their Technology words: Webopedia http://www.webopedia.com vocabulary Any words/thesaurus: Merriam-Webster http://www.merriam-webster.com Any words/thesaurus: Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com Content Area Tools Assist teachers and students in enriching their knowledge in a specialized content area, such as reading, math, science, computer, art, music, language, social studies, drawing and technology education. Example Software Tool Purposes and Benefits CAD Systems Help student in creating models of buildings, houses, cars, and other AutoCAD structures. http://usa.autodesk.com Alibre http://www.alibre.com Music Editors, Sequences, and MIDI Tools Helps students in developing their own musical piece and compositions. iLike and Garageband http://www.ilike.com listing of MIDI products http://www.midi.org Reading Tools Help teachers to select stories that may be related to the topic they will be readability calculation software teaching. Students motivation in reading would likely improve and have http://www.readabilityformulas.com reading for enjoyment. accelerated Reader AR http://www.renlearn.com/ar Microcomputer-based labs (MBL) Also known as probe ware. Assists teachers and students in Calculator-based labs (CBL), and accomplishing their experiments that might need measuring of light, Graphing temperature, voltage, and speed. Calculators vernierLabQuest Graphing calculators help in illustrating equations in graphs. http://www.vernier.com Calculator-based labs allow connection of probes or sensor to a graphing calculator rather than to a computer. Geographic Information Systems GSIS GSIS allows the users to study geographic locations. and Global Positions Systems GPS ARCView GSIS http://www.esri.com/software/arcview

Example Software Tool Purposes and Benefits

 GPS curriculum GPS allows the users to find its way to their destination with complete http://www.educaching.com calculation of positioning of places. Magellan GPS http://www.magellangps.com Garmin GPS http://www.garmin.com Online Foreign Language Dictionaries and Allow users to understand other foreign languages by looking up its Language Translators meaning and translation to their local languages. Listing of foreign language dictionaries http://www.foreignworld.com WorldLingo http://www.wordlingo.com Babylon9 http://translation.babylon.com